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Man shoots dog with pellet gun, is charged with animal cruelty

Via Seattle Q 13 Fox News Online

Zeus the dog suffered a fractured leg

Between this story and the story of Knowles who took a hatchet to a neighbor’s dog, these acts of animal cruelty need to stop and the people committing these acts face stiff consequences.

I understand the frustration of living next to someone parenting an animal that incessantly barks. I
personally had the same experience years ago. Our former neighbor’s dogs not only barked for hours on end, they damaged mutual fencing trying to get to anyone or anything near their turf and walking down the street near their home. As annoying as it was with owners who turned a deaf ear to our nice requests to manage the issues we also contacted animal control and local police who could not do anything about it. We were lucky this family family moved. It was never an option to take it out on the dogs.

Zeus the dog with his cast (May 17, 2012)

Web reporter Q13 FOX News Online6:09 p.m. PDT, May 17, 2012

KENT—

A Kent man has been charged with first-degree animal cruelty after shooting his neighbor’s dog in the leg.

Steven Cole shot Zeus, a Miniature Dachshund, with a pellet gun after the dog wandered into his yard on March 31.

Zeus’ owner said she was in her front yard planting a tree with her children when the incident happened. She told police she heard a “pop” and Zeus yelping. When she looked over to Cole’s house, she saw him inside, looking out the window and laughing.

The woman admitted to police that she and Cole had previously had dog issues.

When police questioned Cole he admitted that he owned a high-powered pellet rifle, which he said he used to shoot rabbits. He then also said that when he saw Zeus “crapping” on his property, he shot the dog. Cole said he was tired of asking Zeus’ owner to keep her dog off his property.

Zeus was taken to a veterinarian who determined that his leg had been fractured from being shot.

Cole admitted that he was aiming for Zeus’ body; if he had hit Zeus in the body, he could have seriously injured or killed the dog.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.